Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial updates: Court is adjourned until Tuesday

Combs' former assistant, David James, testified to some of Sean Combs dietary preferences, recalling a time in London where Combs “would not be happy” because the ketchup there was not the same as the brand he preferred.

“Ketchup was a big item he needed for his food,” James told the court.

“Were you aware he put applesauce on cheeseburgers?” defense attorney Marc Agnifilo asked.

“I was not aware of that but I knew he liked applesauce,” James replied.

James purchased these food items through Combs’ company, James testified, but he affirmed on cross-examination that he would use cash to purchase items such as baby oil, personal lubricant and condoms.

James also told the court about what he said were the demanding hours and the sometimes questionable things he did during his employment with Combs. He testified by way of example that he allegedly once purchased an “eight-ball of cocaine” in Saint-Tropez for a Combs associate.

Seven-day workweeks were common, according to James' testimony.

“Something the security detail would tell us: ‘You know what rhymes with tired?’ And the answer is, 'fired,'” James testified. He told the court about one night when Combs allegedly admonished him for driving through a red light.

“I turned around and said ‘I’m f------ tired, man. I’m exhausted,’” James told the court. He testified that Combs did not fire him for the remark.

James also testified about throngs of people in public who wanted to touch Combs or get his autograph.

“Did he tend to be gracious about these things?” Agnifilo asked.

“I don’t think gracious is a word to describe Mr. Combs,” James responded.

James was asked about Combs’ personal chef, a woman named Jourdan Atkinson, who is expected to testify later this week.

James testified that he personally once “got upset, squeezed her wrists and told her to stay in your f------ lane," referring to Atkinson. James testified that the incident was reported and Combs called him into his room to talk about it.

“He asked me what happened, and I told him what happened. And he said, ‘You can’t be putting your hands on women.’ I said, ‘I know sir I f----- up.’ He told me to write her a note and buy her a gift,” James testified, adding. “I rolled up a blunt and gave her a blunt.”

“Did she appreciate it?” Agnifilo asked.

“She did,” James testified.

On re-direct examination, James testified about a time in Alpine, NJ, when, referring to a separate incident in which James said he physically confronted Atkinson, Combs asked James to file a police report saying Jourdan was the aggressor and hit James first.

“Did you file?” prosecutor Christy Slavik asked.

“I didn’t want to make a false police report and lie to the police,” James answered.

The defense asked James about a time when he and a security guard allegedly brought two prostitutes back to Combs’ house when he was not there.

“Security did it all the time,” James testified. “After we had intercourse, she asked me for $200 and I was surprised. I had no idea. I was against paying her." James told the court that the security guard said, "You better pay her because we don’t want any problems at the house.'”

James testified that the woman wanted to shower, to which James said he responded, "If you want to take a shower give me my 200 back.’”

The response elicited laughter in the court. Defense attorney Agnifilo remarked, “You got your money back!”

James' testimony has concluded. Court then took a break.

According to former Sean Combs assistant David James' testimony, Combs dispatched James and a security guard named D-Roc to Mel’s Diner in Los Angeles at three or four o'clock in the morning.

“We pulled into the parking lot and D-Roc looks over and says, ‘That’s m------------ Suge Knight,’” James testified, clarifying for the jury that the then-chairman of Death Row Records was a Combs rival.

James testified that D-Roc approached Knight and said, “It’s me, D-Roc, Biggie’s boy.”

While waiting for their food, James testified that four black SUVs pulled into the parking lot and that he allegedly saw someone pass Knight a gun.

“D-Roc said, ‘We got to f------ go.,” James told the court.

James testified that when he returned to Combs’ house, Combs and Cassie Ventura were outside arguing: “Cassie looked very distressed. She was telling him not to go” to the diner.

James told the court that Combs told him to get behind the wheel of a black Escalade and drive to the diner. “M------------ go,” James testified Combs told him from the back seat of the vehicle. James further told the court that Combs had three handguns on his lap at the time.

“I was really struck by it. I realized for the first time being Mr. Combs’ assistant that my life was in danger,” James testified. A short time later, James gave his notice and left the company, he testified.

On cross-examination, defense attorney Marc Agnifilo challenged James’ recollection of the event, which prosecutors have said supports their contention that Combs was the leader of a criminal enterprise.

"Did you leave D-Roc at the diner?” Agnifilo asked.

James smiled and laughed. “That’s a crazy statement,” he replied.

Asked why he did not object to returning to the diner with an allegedly gun-carrying Combs, James answered, “You have someone with three guns in close proximity, I didn’t think I had the option.”

“You were executing the mission,” Agnifilo asserted.

James responded, “I was doing what I was told.”

As Sean Combs then-personal assistant, David James, testified that he was required to ensure Sean Combs' hotel rooms were stocked with 40 different skin care products, a Luis Vuitton bag that routinely contained $10,000 cash, and “probably 25 or 30 different pill bottles.”

James testified that he procured drugs for Combs, sometimes prescription Percocet, which he told the court he sometimes filled under his own name.

“Did you give him or anyone else permission to fill prescriptions in your name?” prosecutor Christy Slavik asked, referring to Combs.

“I don’t recall that,” James answered.

James also testified that Combs allegedly took ecstasy pills marked with the face of former President Obama. Asked how often he saw Combs take drugs, James responded, “I would say every day.”

Obtaining and distributing narcotics is among the alleged racketeering acts in the indictment against Combs.

In his testimony, James recalled taking ecstasy and dancing around one of Combs’ parties. Later, James testified, Combs reviewed footage of the party, noticed James in the footage and allegedly told him, “I’m going to keep this footage in case I ever need it.”

James also testified he stocked Combs' hotel rooms with baby oil, Astroglide lubricant, condoms and prophylactics that he paid for in cash provided by one of Combs' security guards.

James further testified that in 2008, Combs asked him to bring an iPod into a hotel room in Miami. Since James had set up the room he had a key and opened the door to let himself in, he told the court.

“I saw the Cassie on the bed. She had a white comforter up to her neck, her head to the side and she did not move when I entered,” James testified. He also told the jury that he remembered a “gentleman” in the room he did not recognize.

“He was completely naked, about 5 feet, 8 inches" with a “very large endowment,” James testified.

The man “scurried out as if he didn’t want to be seen,” James told the court.

Sean Combs’ one-time personal assistant, David James, returns Tuesday to the witness stand, where he became emotional Monday when testifying about his job interview with the vice president of human resources at Bad Boy Records.

“We were sitting at her desk and there was a picture of Mr. Combs on the wall,” James began his Monday testimony before choking up at the memory. “She pointed at the wall and she said, ‘This is Mr. Combs' kingdom. We're all here to serve in it,’” James alleged.

James worked for Combs from 2007 to 2009, he told the court, during which time he testified that he witnessed Combs allegedly attack his personal chef, a woman named Jourdan Atkinson, who is expected to testify later this week.

James also testified on Monday that Ventura once told him she could not leave Combs because he controlled too much of her life.

“She was, like, ‘I can't, I can't get out,’ you know. ‘Mr. Combs oversees so much of my life,’” James testified.

James is expected to testify on Tuesday about a time when Combs and others allegedly went to confront record executive Suge Knight at a restaurant named Mel’s Diner. Ventura had previously testified about the alleged incident.

“Sean and I were having a 'freak-off' at one of his homes in LA. And, um, I just remember we were kind of, like, just chilling at this point. And D-Roc came in and he said that Suge was down at Mel's Diner, which was just right down the hill. And they quickly packed up and drove down there,” Ventura testified last week. “I was crying. I was screaming, like, please don't do anything stupid.”

Combs' attorneys are trying to convince the jury that jealousy and drug use caused him to be violent. Federal prosecutors contend that Combs' violence was meant to coerce Ventura into so called "freak off" sex performances with male escorts. One of those escorts, whom Ventura previously testified that she knew as “The Punisher,” is expected to testify Tuesday.

Cassie Ventura’s mother is also expected to testify Tuesday regarding video recordings of "freak offs" that her daughter described in previous testimony as “blackmail materials,” as well as about about injuries on her daughter’s body that the jury has already seen in photographs.